Josh Swiller Publishes First Book, The Unheard
Peace Corps veteran, chef, and Zen monk Josh Swiller recently published The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa, which documents his time in Zambia, where he struggled to reconcile his deafness amid harsh conditions in a remote African village. “I was never planning to write a memoir. I scribbled a lot of notes but that was mainly because there was tons of time and the stuff that was happening was so strange. After I came back to the states, I actually didn’t write for 3-4 years.” Josh eventually joined a local writers circle and began to put his stories on paper. “Work on your book for awhile. Once it’s started to gain altitude, write a kick-ass cover letter and send it to some agents. One of them replied to me, and asked to see what I had. She then spent a year working with me on the manuscript before we submitted it to publishers.” Josh also wanted to share that for would-be writers, it’s less important to find a big name agent; instead, “you’re probably best finding someone who will work closely with you, functioning as an editor/cheerleader.” You can find out more about Josh at JoshSwiller.com or read the prologue to his book here.